The much anticipated trip to Disneyland was scheduled on the fifth day of our trip. Took a train from Ikebukuro to Shinkiba and then transferred to Maihama, which turned out to be one hour plus instead of 37 minutes as stated on the website. It was freezing cold that day and I was merely shivering while waiting for the train at Shinkiba.

Luckily we purchased the tickets at Shinjuku on Day 1 (200 yen cheaper than usual too), and we could enter Disneyland smoothly. We saw long queues at the entrance. Horror. Disneyland was flooded with people, mostly Japanese. We saw Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck at the entrance taking photographs with tourists. The queue for Mickey was really long (we gave up!) whereas Donald had no queue- whoever grabbed him got to take photo with him. I lost. No photo taken.

More crowds inside Disneyland, and all seven sections were flooded with people. Almost every attraction had a long queue. Managed to get a fastpass for Pooh's Hunny Hunt (it was highly recommended on various blogs). Few hours later another fastpass for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, followed by Big Thunder Mountain. We could not grab a few fastpasses at one go, had to be staggered. By the time we rided on Big Thunder Mountain, it was already evening time. Queued up for Star Tours and Haunted Mansion. Took a total of five rides, which was kind of disappointing. Hunny Hunt and Astro Blasters were very similar to two of the attractions in Hong Kong disneyland, hence the surprise element was missing.

The only character who was willing to take photo with me was Daisy Duck. Chip and Dale ran off when they saw me and took photos with some Japanese school girls instead. Here, one had to grab the character and take photo (nobody will help you take a shot). It was unlike Hong Kong where things were done more systematically. One just had to queue up and wait for his turn, just like the case in Sanrio Puroland. So if one is keen on taking rides and taking photos with the cartoon characters, Hong Kong Disneyland would be a better choice. Moreover, its fireworks was more impressive too.

Other photos we took at various locations:

It was difficult engaging tourists when almost everything was in Japanese. The best form of engagement would be the parades. I enjoyed the parades and I thought they were really good! First was the White Holiday Parade (twice a day), followed by Jubilation (once a day) and the Electrical Parade (once a day).

Was freezing cold in the evening and we stayed at the restaruant for one and a half hour just to keep warm. Luckily we had the Big Thunder Mountain ride, quite scary for me, but the screaming warmed me up. It was a wise choice not to opt for Disneysea or we would be freezed to death.

One very popular attraction is Monsters Inc. Ride and Seek. Fastpass ran out by noon. So next time we are there, we must grab these passes first thing we enter the park.

Wait for an hour and a half just to hop onto the bus for Shinjuku (direct shuttle bus). By the time we reached our hotel, it was past eleven. A long and not so fruitful day. Overall, still quite enjoyable cos WQ was there to freeze with me.